Thursday, September 22, 2011

Girls With Glasses

My new glasses

I first realized that I needed glasses in the second grade. I sat in the middle of the second row in my classroom. Our teacher always wrote in very large letters on the chalkboard and I never had any issues reading what she wrote. One morning we came in and we had a substitute teacher. She wrote her name on the board and I immediately said "I can't read that." She turned to look at me. One of my classmates said "You can't read that? What's wrong with you?" I felt like an idiot. Before recess the substitute pulled me aside and instructed me to tell my parents that I needed to get my eyes checked because I needed glasses.

I didn't actually get these glasses until the fourth grade. I asked my mom why she had waited so long and she told me that she thought I had been making it up because I thought glasses were cool. I laughed when she told me this because I had never, ever thought glasses were cool.

My mom finally took me to the local optometrist and I remember being able to see clearly for the first time. I had no idea how much detail in the world I had been missing up until this point. My mom let me pick what I liked and in hindsight I should have let her pick them out. I chose very light pink wire framed glasses. That paired with the sweater vests and peter pan collared shirts that I often wore made for a very nerdy looking fourth grader.

When I got to Middle School I kept pestering my mom to let me get contacts. She finally relented the summer before seventh grade only because I was participating in the local theater's production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. It was my first show and I had been cast as Snoopy. It was a large-ish part and required a lot of singing and dancing. Bouncing around during the musical numbers caused my glasses to slowly slip down my nose until they were nearly falling off my face. Clearly I could not continue in my role with such a distraction. After much complaining and cajoling she brought me back to the optometrist to get fitted for a pair of contacts.

Over the last few years I'd occasionally wear my glasses out in public. I felt conspicuous and self-conscious every time I had them on and would only wear them if my eyes were irritated from my contacts to give them a rest. A few months ago my eyes started getting bloodshot after wearing my contacts for a only a few hours. I stopped wearing them on the advice of my optometrist friend and started wearing my glasses on a daily basis. Apparently long-term contact users develop some sort of issue with their contacts that can potentially turn into a permanent problem. I've had to get used to the same things I hated about my glasses when I was in fourth grade. I especially hate it when my glasses start to fog up near the bridge of my nose and start sliding down my face if I'm the least bit sweaty. Running and yoga totally sucks right now for this exact reason. However, I finally found a pair that I think I can live with. (And they were cheeeeap. You know I love a bargain.) I'll get to the optometrist eventually but for now I think I like this updated version of my face in glasses. No sweater vests or peter pan collared shirts in sight, but now if people think I'm a nerd honestly, I really don't give a shit.